On Sunday November 13, 2011, Her Majesty Queen Sofia of Spain arrived in Valladolid to participate in the 2011 Global Microcredit Summit.

The 2011 Global Microcredit Summit is an important meeting held at a time of crisis with global implications. This year numerous heads of state and government, experts and representatives of national and international working in the fight against hunger and poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are in attendance.

On Monday 14, in the morning, Her Majesty Queen Sofia arrived at the Centro Cultural Miguel Delibes, where she was greeted by President of the Junta de Castilla y León, Juan Vicente Herrera, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Trinidad Jimenez, president of the Castile and Leon, Maria Josefa Garcia Cirac, the government delegate in the autonomous community of Castilla y León, Miguel Alejo, the mayor of Valladolid, Francisco Javier Leon de la Riva, the Secretary of State International Cooperation, Soraya Rodríguez, Muhammad Yunus and the director of the Campaign of the Microcredit Summit Campaign, Sam Daley-Harris. She then came into the building and was greeted by Secretary General for Social Policy and Consumer Affairs, Maria Isabel Martinez Lozano, president of the Provincial Council of Valladolid, Jesus Carnero, President of the Institute of Official Credit, José María Ayala and Citigroup Inc. vice president, Lewis B. Kaden.

During the event Queen Sofia gave a speech in which she noted that reliance on Spain for the organization of the Summit (rough translation):

…confirms the important place that our country has achieved worldwide in the role of microfinance, as this is not in vain the first global summit to be held on European soil… there is no doubt that microfinance is absolutely essential to achieving the Millennium Development Goals set by United Nations and especially the number one goal, which aims to have the proportion of people with incomes below a dollar a day in 2015, and as a sign of confidence from Spain in the role of microfinance is that in just ten years, our country has become the second largest donor worldwide, with 713 contributions million Euros.

The queen ended her speech noting thatthe Global Microcredit Summit does not arise only as a forum for discussion and exchange of experiences, but aims to promote two basic goals:

To achieve that 175 million families access to basic financial services by the end of 2015.

To have 100 million of the world’s poorest families improve their income above the threshold of one dollar a day.

To watch a video as well as to view photos please click the links below: